Setting up a PLIST Configuration File

Setting up a PLIST Configuration File

Configuring an SQLite database connection is easy; it is done via a property list (i.e. PLIST) configuration file. The PLIST configuration file will define the database type, the database (itself), and any privilege restrictions.

A PLIST configuration file uses the .plist extension. By default, all database configurations are stored in db.plist. You may choose to store your configurations in a PLIST file with another name but you will have to override the pre-processing instruction ZIMDbPropertyList in your project-name_Prefix.pch. To do so, just add the following line of code to your project-name_Prefix.pch:

#define ZIMDbPropertyList @"custom.plist"

Example #1

Below is a sample PLIST configuration file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>test</key>
	<dict>
		<key>database</key>
		<string>testdb.sqlite</string>
		<key>readonly</key>
		<false/>
		<key>type</key>
		<string>SQLite</string>
	</dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Every PLIST configuration file must declared the type and database key/value pairs. These are required key/value pairs. Since this library right now only works with SQLite databases, the type key/value pair will always be declared as so. The database key/value pair, however, will be application specific; therefore, you will need to modified the value to reference your specific SQLite database.

The above settings will grant privileges to use all SQL commands.

Example #2

To limit such privileges, you can add another key/value pair to the PLIST configuration file. The following PLIST configuration file restricts privileges to just CRUD statements:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>live</key>
	<dict>
		<key>database</key>
		<string>livedb.sqlite</string>
		<key>privileges</key>
		<array>
			<string>SELECT</string>
			<string>INSERT</string>
			<string>UPDATE</string>
			<string>DELETE</string>
		</array>
		<key>readonly</key>
		<false/>
		<key>type</key>
		<string>SQLite</string>
	</dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Here is a list of permissible privileges:

• ALTER
• ANALYZE
• ATTACH
• BEGIN
• COMMIT
• CREATE
• DELETE
• DETACH
• DROP
• EXPLAIN
• INSERT
• PRAGMA
• REINDEX
• ROLLBACK
• SELECT
• UPDATE
• VACUUM

Example #3

You can combine the above two examples into one PLIST file like so:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>live</key>
	<dict>
		<key>database</key>
		<string>livedb.sqlite</string>
		<key>privileges</key>
		<array>
			<string>SELECT</string>
			<string>INSERT</string>
			<string>UPDATE</string>
			<string>DELETE</string>
		</array>
		<key>readonly</key>
		<false/>
		<key>type</key>
		<string>SQLite</string>
	</dict>
	<key>test</key>
	<dict>
		<key>database</key>
		<string>testdb.sqlite</string>
		<key>type</key>
		<string>SQLite</string>
	</dict>
</dict>
</plist>

As you may have noticed, you can also have just read-only databases by changing the readonly key's value to YES (i.e. ). This will basically limit the your usage of a database to only querying. Therefore, you will not be able to use any command that utilizes the execute method.